Viet Nam deal is a massive conflict of interest for the president
This deal is a massive conflict of interest for the president
Mon, Nov 10 2025 at 1:01 PM
In May, the Trump Organization unveiled a new Trump-branded real estate project: the $1.5 billion Trump International Hung Yen in Vietnam. Now, Bloomberg is reporting that the project is hitting a snag as local farmers are demanding more compensation for their land from the government.
The project is funded by a development firm owned by Vietnamese entrepreneur Dang Thanh Tam, who reportedly profited greatly from Trump’s trade war against China during his first term.
According to Trump’s June financial disclosure, Tam’s firm paid the Trump Organization $5 million in licensing fees for the project.
Development on the project was expedited by the Vietnamese government in May, around the same time the country was negotiating with the Trump administration to avoid its tariffs.
This deal is a massive conflict of interest for the president, who failed to divest from his family business in his second term and therefore still profits from it.
Meanwhile, regular people’s livelihoods and cost of living hang in the balance as the governments negotiate tariffs and compensation for the land.Donate →
These kinds of conflicts aren’t new for Donald Trump, but they have been expanding as the Trump Organization has ramped up its foreign business entanglements.
With this new development in Vietnam, the Trump Organization now has 22 Trump-branded international properties under development during Trump’s second term.
These developments will more than triple the number of Trump properties operating abroad—and they continue to attract business from those seeking to curry favor with the president.
This poses a massive conflict of interest for the president, who can make US foreign policy decisions that could impact those countries—or even his bottom line.
Likewise, foreign officials in those countries will have an opportunity to grant special treatment to the president or punish him for decisions they don’t like.
Here at CREW, we’re continuing to track Trump’s unprecedented conflicts of interest and ensure the president is making foreign policy decisions in the best interest of the people he serves—not his bottom line.
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Robert Maguire
VP of Research and Data
CREW HQ
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